abigail hosein dance company

is a choreographer, teacher and the artistic director of ahdanco, a Bay Area modern dance company founded in 2002. Her choreographic goal is to create innovative and kinesthetically satisfying modern dance that is both visually and viscerally stirring, exploring the human psyche. She has been teaching for over 10 years and currently serves on faculty at Santa Clara University, College Prep Highschool, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Additionally, Hosein’s work has been commissioned by various universitys, high schools, and companies throughout the Bay Area. She holds her MFA in Performance and Choreography from Mills College and has performed locally for Dance Repertory/San Francisco, Hudson Dance, and Barely Complete Productions.

Hosein's work has been presented at venues such as The Ashby Stage, Dance Mission Theater, CounterPULSE, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Her work has been commissioned by private producers, Santa Clara University, College Prep High School, Berkeley High School, Branson High School, the Shawl-Anderson Youth Ensemble, and San Francisco Performances’ Dance Mentor Program.

received a B.A. and B.S. from Santa Clara University, triple majoring in Theatre Arts (with a Dance Emphasis), Art History, and Psychology. She has been dancing professionally since 2005. In 2010, she was asked to present her choreography at the de Saisset Museum’s program Beyond 2-D: Portraits in Other Dimensions, and more recently, was selected as part of sjDANCEco’s ChoreoProject Awards. Currently, Baines serves as Managing Director for the Cardboard Box Theatre Project and works at the Montalvo Arts Center as the Education and Arts Programs Coordinator.

graduated from Santa Clara University in 2009 with a B.A. in Theatre, Dance Emphasis and a B.S. in Political Science. She received her Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University, School of Law in 2012 and has a Certificate in Intellectual Property. Jessica has performed all over the Bay Area in works by choreographers such as Angela Demmel, David Popalisky, Claire Calalo, Lauren Baines, and Abigail Hosein. She loves teaching dance, watching dance, and finding ways to incorporate dance and art into her study and practice of law. Jessica is excited to be part of ahdanco.

grew up dancing in a studio with all the glitzy sequined costumes and fancy jazz and pointe shoes until she discovered her calling... bare feet and less forced smiling. She graduated with a dance degree from Mills College and fled to New York only to discover that she desperately loved the Bay area and the unique dance scene that exists here. She has performed with SF Dance Repertory, Dance Elixir, Kate Mitchell, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Dance Ceres and various other projects in the city. Rebecca is currently a member of Katie Faulkner's little seismic dance company, Artface and has been performing with ahdanco for over 8 years now. She is also the co founder of Barely Complete Productions.

grew up in San Ramon and began dancing at San Ramon Valley Dance Academy at the age of 5. He is a 2008 alumnus of The Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. While at Juilliard, Troy studied modern dance and composition, and began choreographing and teaching. He has taught arts literacy courses for children and began a summer arts outreach program of his own, spreading arts awareness and education across the SF Bay Area. He was a principal dancer, rehearsal director, and teacher with Rebecca Davis Dance Company in Philadelphia, PA in 2008. In 2009 Troy freelanced in Philadelphia and New York City with several dance collectives including Breath Dance Project, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater, and 360 Degree Dance Company. Troy has traveled across the world teaching dance, spreading arts education, and showcasing his choreography at numerous venues from New York to Texas to California. He is currently a teacher and continues to pursue his teaching and choreographic career in the SF area.

graduated from California State University Long Beach with a BA in Dance in 2008. From there, he completed a 200hr yoga certification through Laughing Lotus in San Francisco. Andrew has danced professionally with Keith Johnson and Dancers as well as Holly Johnston’s Ledges and Bones. He shares a Lester Horton Award for Best Group Ensemble for his part in Keith’s piece Presence of Absence. He has also been commissioned to choreograph works for Santa Ana College and Cerritos College. Since moving to Oakland in 2010 he has had the privilege to work with bay are choreographers such as Rogelio Lopez, Catherine Galasso, Abigail Hosein, Cathy Davalos, and Nina Haft.

has been dancing in the Bay Area since 2003. She has had the pleasure of dancing with Scott Wells and Dancers, ArtFace, Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixer, and Huckabay McCallister. Mica is a proud member of ahdanco. Mica has been lucky to co-produce work with Rebecca Gilbert under their company Barely Complete Productions.

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amanda whitehead
has been with ahdanco since 2007. She trained at The Washington School of Ballet in Washington, DC and danced with The Washington Ballet from 1994-1996, before leaving to get her bachelor's degree in Spanish with a minor in dance at Princeton University. She then choreographed for the drama program at The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, for nine years. She has danced locally with Tammy Cheney and Mo Miner and she now teaches beginner ballet and creative movement for kiddos, teens, and grown-ups at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center.

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p a s t d a n c e r s

grew up in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, performing with the Palesch Pacific Ballet and Redwood Empire Ballet companies and attending Mills College. She spent a year in Minneapolis dancing with the Dylan Skybrook Dance Company, and three years living and dancing in Brussels Belgium with Fougere Dance before returning stateside where she dances for Kelly Kemp and Company, Laura Arrington Dances, Aura Fischbeck Dances and Group A, and she is very happy to be performing with Ahdanco.

has studied dance primarily with Reginald Ray Savage and has performed with the Erika Shuch Performance Project and Push Dance Company. He is currently dancing for Savage Jazz Dance Company, Janet Das, and is excited to be dancing with adhanco. He went to UC Irvine for a BA in Sociology and a BA in Studio Art, and to graduate school at San Francisco State University for a Masters in Public Administration. He currently works for the City and County of San Francisco.

discovered her love for movement at about age 5 while watching her mom dance around the house. She started taking ballet and jazz lessons and continued on in college when she started taking dance more seriously. She studied the Vaganova syllabus and since then has trained in the bay area and New York. Natalie danced with ahdanco from 2002-2006 and is excitedly rejoining for "here, look". She has also dance with Dance Elixir as well as many other independent bay area choreographers. Natalie received a BA in Liberal Arts from SFSU, is currently working toward a Nursing degree and teaches pilates in Oakland and Berkeley

has been dancing for about 30 years, in a few styles with many talented people, and nothing compares to it. She was honored with Scholarships from amazing companies, including Contra Costa Ballet, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Dancing professionally with Sacramento Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle and with ahdanco from the beginning. Practicing and teaching yoga helps keep her humble, sane hopeful and strong. Ambika's husband and two daughters inspire and challenge her unlike any other experience in her life. Performing gives me a place to bring that all together.